


the world can wait

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Community: comment_fic, F/M, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 09:58:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7930354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If you feel like the oldest person at a concert you probably are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the world can wait

**Author's Note:**

> Theme: e-cards  
> The Flash, Caitlin Snow/Joe West, If you're feeling like the oldest person at the concert, you probably are. 
> 
> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/748150.html?thread=98808438#t98808438
> 
> A new and exciting moment - the first time I've ever seen a Joe/Caitlin prompt! It's no longer just me!
> 
> Title from "late to the party" by Kacey Musgraves

"What are you doing hiding in here?" 

Joe looked up from the sink of washing up to see Caitlin standing at the back door. Well, standing might be overstating the matter a little bit. Leaning against the back door, more like, a frown on her face and a beer in her hand. It wasn't her first beer of the night, he knew, not that he was keeping track, but there was a tilt to her head and a curve to her lips that he didn't often see, certainly not when there was a back yard full of people who could see her smiling at him like that. 

Which, he figured, was part of the reason that the usually very controlled around company Caitlin Snow had let herself get a little tipsy around so many people. They weren't keeping things a secret, not anymore, but the revelation of the change in their relationship status had been met with a decidedly lukewarm response so they weren't exactly advertising it either. 

"Let me see..." he drawled. "Sink full of water, dirty dishes... what could I be doing?" She narrowed her eyes even as her lips curved in more of a smile, narrowed them even further when he continued, "And they say you're a genius..." 

"I mean..." She put great emphasis on the second word, took a couple of steps closer to him. "Why are you in here, doing dishes, when there's a party going on out there?" She sounded genuinely confused, as well as more than a little curious and he shook his head, reaching for a dish towel to dry off his hands. 

"You didn't notice?" She frowned and he fought the urge to chuckle. No matter how adorable he thought the frown looked on her, he had a feeling that she wouldn't appreciate laughter. "Look, I had a great time, the barbecue went well, even if Barry nearly set himself on fire..." She did actually giggle at that; it was even more adorable than the frown. "And then about a half hour ago, I looked around and realised that everyone who was left was friends of Barry and Iris and Wally." As if to prove his point, the music level lifted several notches to something he'd never heard before and would be perfectly happy never to hear again. "Kids," he added, just in case she didn't get his point. 

"Ah." Her voice was very soft and he was reminded, not for the first time, that she was closer to his kids' age than his own. 

"So, going by the old adage that if you feel like the oldest person at the concert, you probably are, I figured it was time to retire gracefully, before Barry and Iris try to retire me." He was making a joke of it and she nodded as she placed her beer bottle down on the counter beside her. 

"I understand." She took another step closer to him, moved her head so that her hair, worn long and loose just to entice him, swung around her shoulders. His fingers itched with the impulse to run through it but he made himself keep his hands by his sides. 

"You should go back out," he told her, and he meant it because he'd seen her across the yard, laughing at some story that Wally was telling her and Jesse. She'd been having a good time, the smile on her face as broad as he'd ever seen it and he'd been able to tell from the set of her shoulders, her general posture, that she was relaxed in a way that couldn't be solely accounted for by the beer in her hand. Caitlin didn't get too many nights like that, none of them did, and he didn't want to ruin that for her. 

"What if I don't want to?" She was standing right in front of him by now, her palms landing on his chest before sliding up so that her fingertips curled over his shoulders. She pressed their lower bodies close together and his hands went to her hips of their own accord. "What if I want to stay here with you?"

Her voice was not only quiet, but low, as low as he'd ever heard it, full of intent and promise. Goose flesh broke out along the back of his neck, something that should be a thing of the past in a man his age. "Caitlin..." he whispered, but she wasn't finished. 

"What if I'd rather be somewhere else... upstairs... with you?"

Joe West was many things, but above all, he was human, and there was only one answer to that and, fortunately, it didn't need words. The way he kissed her was answer enough.


End file.
